Views of a local who has been in the hospitality side of the wine biz full- or part-time for over 20 years. Maybe more importantly, an avid consumer of the local wines for over 30 years. Mostly general comments on the California wine business because that's what I know.
Sometimes there's nothing like a good Sonoma Whine! If you don't take my comments too seriously then neither will I. After all, it's only wine.

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Wednesday, June 1, 2016

Sutter Home Owners Goin' Uptown

Just after WWII the Trinchero brothers bought Sutter Home Winery in Napa Valley. In the 1970s the winery "invented" White Zinfandel and the rest, as they say, is history. Trinchero Family Estates is now a group of about 50 wine labels all made possible by those millions of cases of White Zin sold. Some of their other brands are Joel Gott, Montevina, Napa Cellars, and Trinity Oaks. All are reasonably priced and not made to compete with their high-end Napa neighbors.

That's changing.

Trinchero claims to have invested $36 million to start up a new winery making premium wines. That's a ton of money for a new winery. There's a $24 Sauvignon Blanc, but the rest are reds running from $40 to $85.

Trinchero Napa Valley is opening their tasting room in a few weeks and will specialize in Napa Cabernet. It's not like they're the only winery in Napa Valley to do this. I assume they have a plan to stand out from the rest. Maybe they are still expecting value in that their $50 offerings might compare to $75 wines elsewhere in the valley? Okay, that's a relative value. Maybe they expect their distributors to get it into stores? Though I wouldn't expect it to be the same locations that carry their White Zinfandel. We'll see how well they play in this market.